


Man's Folly is Love

by Sol_Invictus



Category: I Medici | Medici: Masters of Florence (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, More or less Canon Compliant, Older Man/Younger Man, Rinaldo doesn't know what to do with his attraction for Piero, crackship, i like challenges ok, personal writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 07:25:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18331358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sol_Invictus/pseuds/Sol_Invictus
Summary: Piero was a folly, a dangerous one at that, but Rinaldo had given in against his best judgement.





	Man's Folly is Love

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet was a personal challenge I gave myself. I found a crackship and challenged myself to write something believable for them. I think I have succeeded at least in parts although let's be honest: suspension of belief is still required to take this ship seriously. All the same, I hope you enjoy it! (I haven't rewatched S1 but this ficlet basically happens before Piero's marriage to Lucrezia.)

Piero beamed as he opened his present and Rinaldo could not help a small fond smile at his boyish joy. For boyish he still was: he was nineteen, only a year younger than his own son, and foolish and hopeful like all younglings of his age. However the truly foolish one here was certainly Rinaldo. Piero was a folly, a dangerous one at that, but he had given in against his best judgement. Perhaps he had been influenced by the strange circumstances of their first proper meeting a year ago. They had run into each other in a neighborhood known for its...special establishments. Ones that catered to men with men. What began with fear and fascination ended with lust. Rinaldo was by no means blind: his young lover was the apple of everyone's eye in a city that worshiped youthful beauty. However he had not expected the boy to possess such a bewitching charm. Where Cosimo (cursed be his name) was ice and ambition, Piero was warmth and amiability.

The easiness with which the young man had accepted their mutual attraction had troubled Rinaldo to the point he sometimes wondered if this was not a plan concocted by his wicked father. He was a good Christian and as such his taste for men had always been an object of shame and self-loathing for him. Obviously the Medici entertained no such preoccupation for their immortal soul: how else could Piero's carefree love be explained?

"Thank you so much, I've been looking for this book for _months_ ," said the young man with a blinding smile.

He gave Rinaldo a tender kiss before reverently opening the book. Piero was a gentle soul, one made for books and libraries. One had a hard time believing he was Cosimo's son.

"How went your father's journey to Sienna?"

Rinaldo could not help the pang of guilt. He knew the boy revered his father, but obviously the feeling was not returned. Piero yearned to prove his worth but Cosimo was not inclined to let his son run the bank.

"Good," the boy answered with a quiet voice Rinaldo knew all too well. "Father still won't allow me to go to Rome to further our cause. He says I'm not ready."

As often, Rinaldo did not have the heart to sour the great love Piero had for Cosimo, and instead lied with a comforting caress on his lover's cheek:

"The hardest for a father is to let his son leave the nest. Give him time."

His soothing words brought a smile to Piero's face, and not for the first time, Rinaldo _almost_ felt bad for trying to destroy the Medici.


End file.
